Can't take any more and don't know what to do!

[Liloosmum]

I don't know if this is a sleep or hunger problem so I'll post in both sections!

My DD#2 is now 5.5 months. For the first 12 weeks she was quite a good sleeper starting off with sleeping at least one four hour stretch during the night. This got longer until she reached 12 weeks and since then her sleep has been getting worse and worse.

She currently wakes every 1.5-2 hours some nights and other nights every hour, but does at least then sleep for 2.5 hours once!

I'm breastfeeding and so when she wakes I feed her, but I'm not convinced she's always waking because of hunger. Feeding her seems to be the quickest way of getting her to go back to sleep without waking DD#1, but I am so tired and don't think I'm coping with it very well any more.

I've tried putting her in her own room, putting an extra blanket on her, gloves so her hands aren't cold. I've spoken to a HV who suggested weaning her so I've started, but I don't think that will make much if any difference any time soon.

I know she will have had growth spurts and there's a sleep regression that people talk of around 4 months, but it's been two and a half months since we've had a decent night (ie 4 hours of sleep!)

Any suggestions?

ive been going through a similar experience. my lo is now 6 months and would wake every 2 hrs sometimes even every hr! i b/f to sleep and lo is on 3 meals a day now. we entually thought that it was because lo was wondering where he was in the middle of the night, we started putting lo down stroking his hair and sssh until lo was dropping off then removing our hand. by the 3rd night lo slept through the night woke couple of times for the dummy. this is the first time in 6 months!!grin

The sleep regression at 4 mths is fairly universal - how long it lasts depends on how you handle it.

Feeding a 5-6 mth old baby every 1-2 hrs a night is creating a feed-sleep association and so makes sleeping worse even when they are over the regression.

My dd3 did this but ( owing to my previous experiences) worked very hard at not reinforcing her wake ups with feeding. It's very hard work and not without tears on both sides but the longest she ever cried for was about 25 mins (in the same room as me and after I knew she had been fed in the last 3-4 hrs)

She is not sleeping thru yet because she is small and still needs at least one feed a night but she is nowhere near as bad as waking hourly as she used to.

I do not believe weaning makes any difference.

No advice but sympathy. My LO was a decent sleeper with only 2 feeds in the night. Now he's up every 2 hours and sometimes doesn't even settle after the feeds. I was up with him on and off from 1-4.30 am last night.....

He is 4 months so assume it is sleep regression. God knows how and when it will improve but will try the shushing and patting to see.